Page:Walks in the Black Country and its green border-land.pdf/349

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and its Green Border-Land.
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of him in my own mind, and wrote my impressions of his condition in an article which had a wide reading in the United States. It excited so much sympathy with the youngster that, at my suggestion, the American children raised a contribution of about £30 to send him to school, and to pay his father 2s. 6d., a week in lieu of his wages. When he grew to be of age, he came to me in New England and worked a year on my farm; and is still living in my native town, the father of several happy children. This was the special incident of my second day's walk, and furnished the raw material of an article which was far more widely read than my "Last Hour of the League," which I had finished an hour before this little adventure.

As I am now on personal reminiscences connected with the Lickey and neighbourhood. I must notice Bromsgrove and its grand old church. This edifice is surpassed by few if any ecclesiastical structures in Worcestershire. It stands on ground raised by nature just high enough to make the earth-work conform to the symmetry of the building. The massive tower is a pedestal for the tall spire, in perfect harmony with its height and taper. The whole external aspect of the church, from the top of the spire to the base of the eminence, impresses one with a sense of symmetry, beauty, and grandeur. But it was the interior that made